


False Idol

by Higgystar



Category: Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Gen, Kink Meme, rating for Merle's dirty mouth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-01
Updated: 2014-05-01
Packaged: 2018-01-21 11:23:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,182
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1548800
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Higgystar/pseuds/Higgystar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt from the kinkmeme: Maggie has never met Merle, but she's heard his name in passing and the man standing in front of her can't possibly be the same brother that Daryl speaks of with such affection.</p>
            </blockquote>





	False Idol

Maggie knows she is stronger than before due to this world, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t terrified when she’s left in the darkened room by herself and locked in. It’s cold enough in here to give her chills but she refuses to hug herself, not wanting to seem weak if someone was watching her, not wanting to give them any more ammo than they needed. She’d not seen much, just darkness and the fear of having not seen Glenn, not even heard him or been told about where he was makes her stomach twist in knots. There’s no weapons in here, nothing but the table and chair she’s on and every second creeps by as she waits.

The door slams open with a bang and though she doesn’t jump at it, she can’t stop the flinch, and closes her eyes for a moment to gather herself. She is strong, she can survive walkers and what they did to her family, she can survive this. Opening her eyes she keeps her teeth grit behind her lips, sealing her mouth shut as she glances up to the man before her.

It’s Merle Dixon.

Swallowing back the worry she turns her gaze away from him, simply moving to stare at her knees and her hands clasped upon them, not willing to give this man anything. The door is wide open behind her but she doesn’t think for a second Merle would hesitate to kill her if she made a break for it. Everything about him reeks of strength and rage, he’s dirty and has a way of standing in front of her that lets Maggie know she’s not going to like anything that comes out of his mouth.

“Well lookit you. What’s a pretty little thing like you doing in a place like this?” She was right, even his voice makes her skin crawl and the leer she can feel on her face makes her shiver a little despite her efforts not to. In a way she can’t believe it’s true, but Glenn would never lie to her, not about something like this. This truly was Daryl’s brother, even if she couldn’t believe it.

Maggie keeps her mouth shut, sitting in silence and simply watching her fingers, noting the amount of dirt, blood and grime beneath her nails and how callused her fingers are nowadays. “We playing the silent treatment game huh? No problem.” Merle continues and when the man moves to perch on the table in front of her Maggie can’t help but shift her gaze to the parts of him in her peripheral vision.

He’s bigger than Daryl, not necessarily in height, but he’s broader even if a little gaunt from the starvation the end of the world has brought on everyone. Honestly he doesn’t look anything like the man she knew so well, there was nothing of Daryl in this man before her, not looks nor personality wise. He’s haggard, he even manages to sit in a cocky way on the table and look down on her like she was nothing. There’s no humility in this man, everything he is is on show and all of it makes her hate him even more.

A part of her wonders if they are half brothers, like her and Beth were and that was why they looked so different. But no one had ever mentioned it and the way everyone spoke about them, it seemed the Dixons were full siblings. Personally she couldn’t see it and the way Merle was acting before her, she really wondered about the possibility of this not being Merle at all. The man taps his fingers on the table top, leaning back and leering at her with his other arm resting on the edge of the table, the blade attached to the end of the limb digging into the woodwork in a way that makes her tense a little when she sees it.

“Don’t you go worrying your pretty little head sugar.” Merle croons, acting as if this was nothing to him, as if keeping people prisoner and taunting them was a part of his day job. “Ain’t gonna hurt you, not unless you make me.” Merle sniggers a little and when he speaks again Maggie is even more disgusted with the man. “I know some girls like that.”

She just can’t understand it at all. The man is a pig, the kind you’d expect to see causing chaos at a bar and getting tossed in a cell for the night and though she knew Daryl had a temper on him, the other man was just so different. Their manners were almost opposite, with Merle all bold and brash, in your face and not caring, where Daryl would only fight if he had to. Lifting her head to meet the other man’s eyes she glares at him harshly, refusing to speak but wanting to convey all the hatred and anger she had all the same.

It’s then she notices the only similarity this man has to Daryl. Though her friend’s eye were mottled somewhere between green and blue, Merle had the same hint of blue in his and in that second she can see some of Daryl in him. It’s stupid, that such a small thing makes her certain, but it also makes her even more livid to be in this situation at all.

If it had been her and it had been Beth or Shawn she would never have tried to hurt the people who knew where they were. She would have fallen to her knees and begged to be taken to them, regardless of what would happen to herself. It makes her wonder exactly who Merle Dixon was and why was he so different to the brother she’d heard Daryl describing? Drawing her eyes back to her hands she ignores the man as best she can, remembering the picture she’d made in her head and wishing that had been true instead.

In her mind Merle had been taller than Daryl, she knew he was older and she’d figured they’d have the same dark blond hair that got darker as it grew. She’d heard about him being in the army and prison and had come to the conclusion that the man would probably be well built, stocky if not muscley. If he was anything like his brother, she’d figure he’d at least have strong arms and finesse when using a weapon, as if he’d been born to do it. In her head, Merle had been cocky yes, but in a pleasant way, a way that was playful and yet teasing and his voice wasn’t tainted with filth, but instead strong and with a hint of a smile all the time.

Maggie knew it was ridiculous to be mad at the man for not meeting her expectations, but it was frustrating to be so wrong and about something so important. It was her fault they were here. She had gotten them into this situation and it was all because of the asshole sitting in front of her.

“You know sugar, you don’t wanna talk and that’s fine, I ain’t never been fond of women who don’t know when to shut their mouth.” Merle sniffs, shifting in his seat and catching her attention, meeting her eyes with a serious look on his face and for a second she really was frightened of Merle Dixon. “But unlike the Governor, I don’t want to hurt anyone at your camp, I just wanna find my baby brother.”

Hearing him say it just makes it worse and she cannot imagine this man ever having had anything to do with Daryl Dixon. She huffs a little in annoyance and the sound makes him lean a little closer, getting her to lean back as he pushes into her space, his voice low as if he were trying to be soothing to her. “I know you know him, you’re chink boyfriend let that one slip. I just want to find him, ain’t seen him in almost a year.”

It makes her so mad to hear him talk about Daryl as if he knew him, even if she logically knew this man knew him better than any of them. She just can’t get past the mistrust and gut feeling of revulsion at this man. Merle was a pig and a dangerous pig that she wouldn’t trust as far as she could throw, whereas Daryl was a part of her family and someone she would trust with her life. The thought of Merle being related to him was almost preposterous. Slumping back in her seat she tries to act uncaring, not wanting to listen to this man that wasn’t what she’d expected.

Daryl didn’t speak about himself much, but getting through the days of winter they’d had little else to do but talk and of course the topic of family had come up. The others had filled in the blanks of what had happened in Atlanta and Maggie hadn’t brought up the topic since it was clearly a sore point but whenever Daryl did speak of Merle, it was as if he were alive and just away for the moment. It reminder her of how she thought of Beth and Shawn, even if Daryl didn’t realise it, he spoke with his eyes and whenever he mentioned Merle, there was a happiness and comfort there. Daryl seemed to relax when thinking of Merle, sometimes she could even see him smile and God it had made her happy that he had memories to enjoy.

Whenever she’d heard of Merle, whether it be the mention of his antibiotics for the clap, or Daryl wearing a shirt that was too big and muttering under his breath it was Merles, she could just see his emotions there. Daryl didn’t just care for this man, he loved him and she remembers when they’d been on watch together. When Daryl had refused to let her sit in the cold alone and had remained beside her, the two of them whispering into the night about things past and smiling over shared memories. Daryl had been tired, leaning beside her and mumbling about Merle, talking about his big brother practically raising him and letting him share his bed after nightmares. It had been a side of Daryl she had never seen before and the pure adoration in his voice when speaking about his brother made her so hopeful that they would find him for Daryl.

Now she wished that they’d never found this piece of shit that’s watching her and it’s not until the cold feel of the blade brushes over her cheek that she realises she’s crying silent tears. “Hey now sugar, what’re these for?” Merle croons and she feels the anger boil over inside of her when she realises they’re for Daryl and the brother she wished that he’d had. It takes a second for her to react, not saying a word but spitting in Merle’s face and sneering at him as he reaches up to wipe it away.

Clenching her jaw she sneers at him before focussing back on her knees, not willing to deal with this anymore. As far as she was concerned this man may be Merle Dixon but he was not Daryl’s brother. This wasn’t the man that Daryl admired, this wasn’t the person she’d wanted to find, this was a piece of shit that had used her hesitation to take advantage of her and Glenn. He’d seen her pause, her mind not on the situation but remembering Daryl’s smile and the way he’d buried his nose in the collar of his brother’s shirt when he didn’t think anyone was watching. Merle had used that moment to ruin everything and she would not acknowledge him if she didn’t have to.

“All right, you don’t wanna tell me where he is? Fine.” Merle snarls and everything she’d seen the man to be beneath the surface comes out on his face. She hears the slam of a fist on the table, Merle is angry, kicking at the desk, the wall, anything he can that isn’t her. For what it’s worth, she doesn’t flinch, she just waits for him to get out and leave her alone. “I bet the slitty eyed little shit next door will break once I’m through with him. And it’s all gonna be because of you sugar, all I want is my baby brother back and you’re a heartless bitch to keep that from me!”

Merle is loud, yelling in her face, and then he’s gone, the door slamming behind him and leaving her in her seat with her fingers trembling in clenched fists on her knees. She doesn’t care about if anyone’s watching, she doesn’t care if they think she’s weak right now, all she can do is let her head drop as the tears begin anew. Maggie is alone, frightened and now terrified that Glenn was going to pay for her mistakes, all because the Merle Dixon she’d met wasn’t half the man that she’d expected him to be.


End file.
